It's okay, they know me here

Tuesday was Jennifer’s first day of sixth grade and yesterday was Jesse’s first day of kindergarten. My daughter is now in middle school and my son is now in elementary school. Wow! I wanted to get a blog post about their first days and I wanted to do this after they have both had their first days at school, so that I could have their pictures together. Because yesterday was 9/11 and pretty much a day of “blogging silence” for me, I did not post about it then. 

But I will post about it now.

Here are their first day pictures:

For Jennifer, it was an exciting day. Her first day at middle school! Quite a big deal. I remembered my first day in junior high. It was awesome! I wanted this day for Jennifer to be awesome, too. We were going back and forth to make sure she had everything she needed and that she did not need any other papers or anything signed or filled out. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to take her lock for her locker and I told her it was probably a good idea to take it. She was not worried or freaked out at all. She was actually pretty excited and ready to take middle school on! I was proud of her. I chose not to go into the school with her to say goodbye; didn’t want to embarrass her. She was confident and focused and didn’t seem nervous at all. It was a good first day for her.

For Jesse, he was also excited about starting kindergarten. He was ready to go! I made sure he had his backpack and extra T-shirt labeled and reminded him that he would not be having lunch at the school. I made sure he had a good breakfast and snack before he left. When we got to the school, he actually ran to go inside! He couldn’t wait to get to school. When we went through the office, the principal smiled at him and the secretaries cheered him and gave a thumbs-up on our way to his classroom. He found his cubby just fine and even said hi to some of the kids in the class. He wasn't nervous or clingy at all. It was just a day back at school for him. Some parents were sticking around with their kids for their first day but I decided it was best if I did not do the same. Didn’t want to cause him to worry. And I didn’t want him to see his mommy cry, either. I actually got emotional and teared up watching my baby in his first day of kindergarten. I wanted to run over and pick him up and hold him close to me for the longest time. I actually had to FORCE myself to leave the classroom! I had to repeat to myself “keep walking, keep walking” and try to assure myself he would be FINE. I was so proud of him but also sad because he wasn’t so much of a baby anymore.

My kids are growing up. Waaah!!

As I was leaving, I kept seeing familiar faces from when Jennifer was a student there. It was nice to see everybody again and say hi. When I walked out of the school, the other classes were at recess and I remembered how I’d often run to the school for something or another and see Jen at recess. I can still remember the same door she walked out of when in kindergarten; not it’s Jesse’s turn to walk out that door when school is out. It will definitely take me time to get used to this now being JESSE’S school instead of Jennifer’s.

After school was out, both of the kids told me about their days. And, of course, I had more paperwork to fill out. Yippee skip! I was surprised by one notice I got from Jesse’s school: They are now going to serve lunch to the kindergartners. Yay! The kids will get a sack lunch starting next week. I am so relieved and so happy. I was worried about Jesse and other children going hungry. (But I don’t think they would make the children go hungry. In fact, when I was there this morning, one student was sitting at a desk eating fruit salad. I’m sure they’d give a child an apple or something in the event of being hungry.) But I am just so very glad they will have lunch now. Yay! Thank you to whoever made that possible.

The kids love their schools and we have been spending the week getting settled into a routine. I’m loving the afternoon school Jesse has and Jen is grateful she doesn’t have to get up as early as she used to for elementary school. We look forward to seeing what else the new school year will bring.